1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fully-swallowable endoscopic system which can be retained in the patient""s body for a long time, wherein few blind spots occur in an endoscopy examination.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an endoscopy examination, in general, an insertion portion connected to an operation portion is introduced into a patient""s body through his or her mouth to observe a target inner part of the body. In the case of observing an inner part of a largely-bent tubular passage in a body such as part of the large intestine, the occurrence of blind spots in the endoscopy examination cannot be avoided.
The body insertion portion of the endoscope must be sometimes inserted and retained in the body for a long time to observe the progress of a diseased part within the body or obtain and/or record somatoscopic information of a patient under ordinary every-day living conditions. However, the insertion and retainment of the endoscope in the body through the patient""s mouth causes the patient to suffer from significant pain.
To relieve pain from the patient, it is known to use a capsule type endoscope which is provided at an intermediate portion of a flexible continuous member, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 64-76822. A patient to be examined swallows a soft ball formed at a tip end of the flexible continuous member the night before the day of examination, so that the soft ball is discharged from the patient""s anus the next day. An operator pulls or moves the tip end and the tail end of the flexible continuous member to thereby move or guide the capsule connected to the intermediate portion of the flexible continuous member.
In the capsule type of endoscope described above, the pain that the patient suffers can be eased in comparison with conventional endoscopes. However, the patient must always carry the flexible continuous member whose one end extends out of his or her mouth for more than 12 hours. Consequently, it is impossible for the patient to take a meal or speak. Under these circumstances, no substantial pain relieving effect can be expected. Moreover, it is generally difficult to control the position of the endoscope in the form of a capsule.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a fully-swallowable endoscopic system which can be easily introduced in a small-radius curved tubular passage in a body, which can relieve a patient to be examined from pain and which makes it possible to observe the target inner part of the body reliably and precisely.
To achieve the object mentioned above, according to the present invention, a fully-swallowable endoscopic system is provided, which includes a rod-shaped endoscope body which can be swallowed entirely by a patient to be examined so as to be placed in a body cavity; and an external device provided separately from the rod-shaped endoscope body having no mechanical connection with the rod-shaped endoscope body. The rod-shaped endoscope body includes in the longitudinal direction thereof at least one hard portion each having at least one light emitter and at least one observing system; at least one flexible portion designed to be bendable along a curve in a body cavity; and at least two bending portions designed to be more flexible than the at least one flexible portion, the at least two bending portions being respectively positioned on the opposite ends of at least one of the at least one flexible portions. The rod-shaped endoscope body is provided therein with a transmitter for transmitting a radio wave which carries an image formed by the observing system, and a power supplying device. The external device includes a receiver for receiving the radio wave which carries the image.
Preferably, one of the at least one hard portion, one of the at least two bending portions, one of the at least one flexible portion, and another one of the at least two bending portions are provided in that order from one end of the rod-shaped endoscope body.
Preferably, one of the at least one hard portion is positioned at one end of the rod-shaped endoscope body, and the at least two bending portions and the at least two flexible portions are alternately arranged, following the one of the at least one hard portion.
Preferably, each of the at least two bending portions can be radio-controlled to bend by an operation of the external device. The rod-shaped endoscope body is provided therein with a radio-controlled driving device which receives a radio operational signal transmitted from the external device to bend the bending portion in accordance with the radio operational signal, and the external device includes an operational portion which is operated to transmit the radio operational signal to the radio-controlled driving device.
Preferably, the radio-controlled driving device includes a plurality of drive wires made of a shape memory alloy, and a selective-heating device which selectively heats the plurality of drive wires to bend the bending portion.
The power supplying device can be a built-in battery.
In an embodiment, the external device includes a microwave transmitter for transmitting a microwave to the rod-shaped endoscope body, wherein the power supplying device converts the microwave into electrical current to supply the electrical current to the rod-shaped endoscope body.
Preferably, the observing system includes an objective optical system and a CCD image sensor.
Preferably, the external device includes a monitor which visually indicates the image.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a fully-swallowable endoscopic system is provided, which includes a rod-shaped endoscope body having a first hard portion, a first bending portion, a first flexible portion, a second bending portion and a second flexible portion, in that order; and a radio controller for manipulating each of the first and second bending portions so as to bend by radio-control. The rod-shaped endoscope body is provided therein with at least one light emitter for illuminating a target inner part of a living body, at least one image pick-up device for taking an image of the target inner part illuminated by the at least one light emitter, and a transmitter for transmitting a radio wave which carries the image taken by the image pick-up device. The first bending portion and the second bending portion are designed to be more flexible than the first flexible portion and the second flexible portion, and one of the at least one light emitter and one of the at least one image pick-up device are positioned in the first hard portion.
In an embodiment, the rod-shaped endoscope body further includes a third bending portion and a second hard portion, wherein the first hard portion, the first bending portion, the first flexible portion, the second bending portion, the second flexible portion, the third bending portion and the second hard portion are arranged in that order from one end to the other end of the rod-shaped endoscope body.
In an embodiment, the another one of the at least one light emitter and another one of the at least one image pick-up device are positioned in the second hard portion.
Preferably, the radio controller includes a monitor and a receiver for receiving the radio wave to indicate the image on the monitor.
In an embodiment, the radio controller further includes a second transmitter for transmitting a microwave to the rod-shaped endoscope body, and wherein the rod-shaped endoscope body is provided therein with a power supplying device which receives the microwave to convert the microwave into electrical current which is to be used as a power source of the rod-shaped endoscope body.
The present disclosure relates to subject matter contained in Japanese Patent Application No.11-160030 (filed on Jun. 7, 1999) which is expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.